A sobering new study on food security shows more households per capita in St. John’s are struggling to afford their next meal than any other major city in Canada.

The study of 35 cities by the University of Toronto’s PROOF Food Security Policy Research Centre found one in six St. John’s homes have no guarantee of their next meal. That compares with Quebec City, which scored the best with one in 12 homes considered food insecure.

Josh Smee, the CEO of Food First NL, says there are measures we can take to improve the situation such as establishing a guaranteed income and moving toward making minimum wage a living wage or at least setting it at $15 an hour.

He says we also have to look at the supports we have in place for people who have to resort to support systems such as food banks.